Every year, thousands of children in the UK are exploited. Some have been groomed and involved in drug trafficking, others face sexual abuse. No matter what form of child exploitation, we all have a role to play in helping to identify victims and ensure they receive the support to get out of the cycle of abuse.

Signs to look out for

• Is a young person travelling alone, particularly during school hours, late at night or frequently?
• Are they looking lost or in unfamiliar surroundings?
• Are they anxious, frightened, angry or displaying other behaviours that make you worry about them?
• Are they in possession of more than one phone?
• Are they carrying lots of cash?
• Are they under the influence of drugs or alcohol?
• Are they being instructed or controlled by another person?
• As a parent or carer:-
  • Has your child’s behaviour changed – have they become moody, aggressive or emotional?
  • Are they being secretive?
  • Are they missing from school?
  • Are they coming home with expensive gifts or have money that you’re not aware of?
  • Do they display any physical signs of abuse such as bruising?

In Knowsley, there’s a dedicated team – Shield – who can provide help and support. The team works with education and health providers, employment service, the police and Catch22 to provide a dedicated and specialist service to Knowsley young people and their families.

Shield can help to identify activities based on a young person’s interests, they will listen to you, support you, meet with you regularly, help you to stay in education or find a job and support you to access services that will improve your physical wellbeing and mental health.

Cllr Margaret Harvey, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said “Safeguarding our children and young people is everyone’s responsibility. It’s important that you know what the signs of child exploitation are and, importantly, what to do if you have any concerns.

“Our Shield team provide dedicated support to children, young people and their families who are being exploited or at risk of being exploited and work with them so that they can get out of the cycle of abuse, rebuild their confidence and go on to achieve and succeed.”

Over the coming weeks, Shield will be raising awareness of child exploitation and the help and support that is available to children and families. Shield will be visiting sexual health clinics, Accident and Emergency Department staff at Whiston Hospital, and meeting with pupils across the borough. They will also be linking in with the fostering team, local policing team and discussing child exploitation with staff at SHAP (housing support and wellbeing services for young people).

If you would like any further information, need support or have any concerns about a child or young person, please speak to a member of the Shield team on 0151 443 5028 or email Shield@knowsley.gov.uk

Organisations in the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sectors were invited to apply for grants at the end of 2022.

Groups could apply for up to £2,000 for new organisations or projects that required ‘seed funding’ to launch and test their activities. Established organisations could apply for up to £10,000 to sustain, extend or expand existing projects.

More than half of the applicants to the fund met the criteria and were successful in securing funding. These include:

• Al’s Activity and Respite Centre in Prescot who have secured £7,300 to refurbish a gym and sensory room with more advanced equipment to further improve the physical health of the group’s members.
• Happy Hours in Kirkby have been awarded £4,800 to be able offer free activities for adults and pensioners to improve their mental health and wellbeing through fun adapted fitness.
• Swanside Community Centre in Huyton have received just under £10,000 to support the most hard-up families in the community with family group sessions three days a week as well as breakfast and afterschool clubs, ensuring children get a healthy breakfast and meal after school each day.
• Torrington Drive Community Association in Halewood have received £10,000 to expand their ‘Helping Halewood’ project to support local residents with the challenges arising from the cost of living crisis.

 You can view a full list of the successful projects here.

About the Stronger Communities Fund

Members approved plans to launch a Stronger Communities Fund at its Cabinet in November 2022, having allocated a one-off £250,000 investment earlier in the year. The Fund will support groups to develop and strengthen their activities.

Over the past five years, the Council has invested £1.2m into Knowsley’s voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector and this fund will particularly support groups helping families deal with the challenges brought by the current cost of living crisis.

The principles of the fund will also support the priorities in the Knowsley Council Plan, which has a clear vision of supporting ‘Knowsley’s People and Communities to thrive’ by providing effective support for those in need, inclusive growth and skills, and achieving Net Zero by 2040.

Cllr Graham Morgan, Leader of Knowsley Council said:

“We know that people are struggling due to the on-going Cost of Living Crisis and as a Council we need to be dynamic in the ways in which we can offer support. Through the Stronger Communities Fund we are able to empower those groups and organisations closest to the community to deliver impactful projects which can help and support those most in need.”

Prior to Lancashire County Council’s Development Control Committee on Wednesday, 7 December, a request was made by Sir George Howarth, MP for Knowsley, for the Government to consider ‘calling in’ the application for a public inquiry. As a result, although the Committee said they were “minded” to approve the application, they are not able to formally do so until the Secretary of State has considered the ‘Call In’ request.

Cllr Graham Morgan, the Leader of Knowsley Council has since also contacted the Secretary of State to support Sir George’s request, and written to the Leaders of West Lancashire Borough Council, Sefton Council and the Liverpool City Region Metro Mayor to ask them to make similar requests of the Government.

The Secretary of State is yet to determine whether or not to call in the application.

What happens if the decision is ‘called in’?

If the Secretary of State – Michael Gove – decides to “call in” the application, it would then be determined by an Independent Planning Inspector through a Public Inquiry. If this happens, Knowsley Council will seek to be an active participant in that process and will continue to oppose the application.

However, if the application is NOT called in, the Secretary of State will advise Lancashire County Council that they may make their own decision on the application. At which point it is likely that the County Council will approve it, as they indicated that they were minded to do so, following a narrow majority vote in support of the application. As it has already been through their Development Control Committee, there will be no requirement for any further consideration of the matter, and Lancashire County Council can simply grant planning permission without meeting again.

Will Knowsley Council seek a judicial review?

It is not possible to seek a Judicial Review until a decision has been made – and whilst there is an outstanding request for it to be called in, the decision to approve the application is not considered final. So the council must wait for the Secretary of State’s decision on the call in request. In the meantime, Knowsley Council has engaged the services of a Planning Barrister to consider the merits of a Judicial Review, should this be necessary.

Along with West Lancashire Borough Council, Knowsley Council is writing to Lancashire County Council to advise them once again that they still believe that their decision is flawed. The letter will make clear that, should they ultimately grant consent, Knowsley and West Lancashire will look to begin Judicial Review proceedings against them.

Cllr Tony Brennan, Knowsley Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Economic Development said: “We remain completely opposed to this development, which is utterly inappropriate for this site. We stand with the residents who are rightly concerned and angry that a facility like this could be approved so close to homes and schools – and on an industrial estate where the existing issues with HGV movements and debris on local roads is already causing misery.

“We hope the Secretary of State will agree that more consideration is necessary – and we believe that ultimately, that will lead to this application being declined.”

What exactly is proposed?

The applicant is a company called Culzean W2E Ltd. They were seeking permission to demolish some existing buildings on Simonswood Industrial Estate and replace them with a purpose-built high temperature treatment facility for managing medical waste.

It would burn 4,000 tonnes of waste annually – both hazardous and non-hazardous – using a process called ‘pyrolysis’, where materials are thermally decomposed. The facility would include a 26m tall chimney (roughly about the height of six double decker buses stacked on top of each other).

Why is Knowsley Council objecting?

Firstly, Knowsley Council believes that the development is contrary to Lancashire’s own planning policies. This is because it believes that Simonswood Industrial Estate is not identified as a suitable location for this type of facility involving waste.

Secondly, whilst any planning permission would come with conditions aimed at reducing the development’s inevitable negative impacts, there is reason for concern about how well these might be enforced, based on the wider area’s recent history.

For example, there is already a problem with dust from the industrial estate – several local residents stating they have been unable to use their own gardens because of it. This is caused by existing businesses on the estate stockpiling mounds of soil, which are far higher than they are allowed. Knowsley Council has reported this matter to Lancashire County Council, the Environment Agency and West Lancashire Borough Council, who between them, have the powers to resolve this issue.

The application states that there would be up to 24 Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) movements per day associated with this facility.  It also says that these vehicles would not use Shevington’s Lane and Headbolt Lane, where weight limits are in place.

However, HGVs travelling to Simonswood Industrial estate regularly flout these rules and continue to use the weight restricted roads. As a result, local residents are already suffering noise, pollution and disturbance. Even if only a few of the 24 additional HGVs travelling to site also use the weight restricted roads, that would lead to an unacceptable harm to local residents. To address this issue Knowsley Council recently approved the procurement of Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras for both Shevington and Headbolt Lane to formally identify breaches of the weight restriction. This information will then be shared with Merseyside Police to assist with prosecutions. The cameras will be installed in the coming months.

As well as noise and disturbance, there have also been incidents of HGVs travelling to Simonswood Industrial Estate being poorly loaded, and spilling material onto the surrounding roads. In August last year, Knowsley Council cleared more than 40 tonnes of soil from Pingwood Lane, at significant cost.

If any of the HGVs travelling to the Medical Waste facility were also to be poorly loaded, this could lead to further issues in the local area.

Built by progressive social landlord ForHousing, the homes will provide sheltered accommodation for over-55s at an affordable rent, this means rates will be no more than 80% of local market rent.

The bungalows, including six one-bed homes and one two-bed home, continue ForHousing’s commitment to investing in quality homes in Stockbridge Village.

In 2019, ForHousing invested in the first social housing development in Stockbridge Village for more than a decade with 16 new homes at its Barley Mow scheme. The landlord has now built 137 new homes in the area over the last four years.

Construction on the bungalows started in March 2022 on the site of the former Roughsedge House on Spruce Grove.

The £1 million project has been brought forward in partnership with Knowsley Council and has benefitted from a £315,000 grant from Homes England.

The people moving into the new sheltered homes will benefit from additional support provided by staff at nearby Jackson Gardens – the £15.1 million state-of-the-art extra-care development of 90 new homes that ForHousing completed in 2021.

Nigel Sedman, Executive Director of Homes at ForHousing, said: “Stockbridge Village has been crying out for new affordable homes for many years and these bungalows are a sign of our continued commitment to the area.

“Stockbridge Village is known for its strong community spirit, and we want to help keep this alive by creating aspirational places where people want to live.

“We’re incredibly proud to be able to invest in these homes as part of our wider plans and look forward to seeing the positive impact of these new homes for generations to come.”

Councillor Del Arnall, Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care at Knowsley Council, added: “I’m delighted that ForHousing has delivered this scheme in Stockbridge Village, where we know there is demand for homes. It also provides our residents with a greater choice of homes, particularly around much-needed sheltered accommodation.”

Remember, in an emergency always call 999 – Merseyside Police.

Below we share a list of the Knowsley support agencies and when they are open during the Christmas and New Year period.

Thinking of Leaving?
You might be worried about leaving your home in an emergency. If possible, pack an emergency bag for you and your children and keep it somewhere safe. Try to include essential things such as medication, identification, money or cards and essential clothing for you and your children.

Knowsley Housing Solutions is available 9am – 5pm during normal working days and weekends. Call 0151 443 2333 or email housingsolutions@knowsley.gov.uk

An out of hours officer will be available on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 December, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and Monday 2 January 2023 to offer emergency support.

Knowsley residents can also contact other agencies for support:

The Knowsley Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub emergency duty team will be available on 0151 443 2600 24/7 throughout the Christmas and New Year period

The First Step
Those experiencing domestic abuse and who need support can contact Knowsley specialist Domestic Abuse service, The First Step by calling 0151 548 3333, emailing enquiries@thefirststep.org.uk or visiting The First Step, The Old Schoolhouse, Huyton, L36 0UX.

The First Step will be available until 4pm on Friday 23 December and closed for the festive holidays, opening again on Wednesday 28, Thursday 29 and Friday 30 December.

The First Step will re-open after the Christmas break on Tuesday 3 January 2023.